Hoffman Books

My son, 6 years old, was "on strike" from reading. This book brought him back. He loves reading it, loves looking at the pictures, loves the fact that he can read it by himself.

It is an intelligent, well-illustrated book, that speaks to kids' interests. The words are chosen carefully to be both accessible and challenging for early readers.

I've also bought other books in the series, and they are consistently excellent.

Kay Hoffman is a contemporary poet who writes short and inspirational poems to lift us up. The poems praise God and His power, Glory, and the beauty of His world. The book is arranged so that seasonal poems can be found easily. This a great source for use as devotions.

I haven't read such delicious nonsense in much too long. Shaffer takes fresh look at something that you see every day, and slides it sideways into total silliness. It's done with effortless sleight of hand, one little step at a time.

I found this book at a used bookstore one day, and decided to get it. I've tried several of the ice cream and sherbet recipes so far, and all have turned out very well. The ice cream is very smooth and doesn't get too hard in the freezer (my previous batches of ice cream had to be thawed in the refrigerator before they could be served).

The book has recipes some recipes for different sizes of ice cream makers. I have a 1.5 qt Cuisinart, and I have to split some recipes in half (luckily I have a second bowl, so I can make two batches back-to-back).

It also has recipes for things like ice cream cake, frozen drinks, sorbets, etc.

The book has recipes for many similar flavor groups. For example, there are about a dozen chocolate recipes, so you can pick one based on ingredients, cook/no-cook, batch size, etc.

This book is over 20 years old, but ice cream really hasn't changed much (though ice cream makers have come a long way). The pictures in the book cleary identify its age. But it has good recipes, and it's pretty cheap.

I highly recommend the recipes in this book over the ones I've tried in The Ultimare Ice Cream Book based on variety, taste, and texture.

My children are MSU graduates so I am especially proud of Dr. Collins affiliation with this fine institution and I am a fan of her work.

The only thing I would add is the advantage of an Identity Theft Shield. Yes, we can take care of a lot of these steps on our own. However, most people's lives are very busy and complicated and they do not have time to do all they can do to protect themselves. Further, if/when they are victims ~ why re-invent the wheel? Have professionals work for you.

This book will please young readers. They get to read a great book and do a fun puzzle at the same time. Each book in the series has a different reading emphasis that helps children as they learn to real. My nephew loves his books.

A cookbook, yes, but the recipes take a back seat to the anecdotes and snapshots of Jacob and his brief but joyous life. Diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a fatal cancer, Jacob was an inspiration and a model of grace throughout his terrible ordeal. The poem by his grandmother will make you both laugh and weep. A gem.

Research on the effect of the college experience on students has often been done, but the UW SOUL study is the best and most comprehensive of these projects. What brings this project to life is the sections of interviews with students that are presented. As you read the words of these students and match that with the survey data, the reader begins to discover what really goes on during a students' university experience. We begin to see why the academic adjustment can be so difficult and, more importantly, the authors provide suggestions on how this can be remedied. As the reader examines the data and absorbs the students' responses given in interviews, it becomes possible to see what it is that students learn in college and how this learning takes place.
Inside the Undergraduate Experience is essential reading for instructors, administrators, student development personnel, and anyone who wants to better understand the college experience from the viewpoint of the student.

"Jade Enchantress", published in 1982, is one of two fantasy novels set in medieval China which appeared near the end of E. Hoffmann Price's long career as a professional writer. (He was a friend and contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.) Like "Devil Wives of Li Fong," the story combines a likeable but imperfect hero, several beautiful women (often, but not always, of supernatural origin), and a fair amount of Chinese history and "local color." For example, antagonisms between Buddhists and Taoists are one of the driving forces behind events in "Devil Wives," while in "Jade Enchantress" government corruption and foreign war keep things moving. No prior knowledge is really necessary, although anyone who enjoys either of the books will probably want to find out more about the Celestial Hierarchy, Chinese demons, herbal medicine, and any number of other topics.

"Jade Enchantress" includes entertaining details of the workings and personnel of the popular Chinese pantheon (apparently correct for some times and places), and (naturally) a fair amount of traditional lore about that obviously magical substance, jade. The Lawrence Schwinger cover art (in shades of jade green, naturally) is beautiful, and appropriate without revealing much about the plot.

Price, who emerged from the pulp fiction era of stock characterizations and ethnic stereotyping, tended to fall into these traps (albeit from a pro-Chinese perspective) even in his late science fiction, like "Operation Misfit" (1980) and its sequels.. Fortunately, in "Jade Enchantress," the main focus is on Chinese characters and social roles and outsiders are seen through their eyes, so the alert reader is invited to interpret their perceptions as character development or plot devices instead of authorial opinions. (A similar technique was used by Robert van Gulik to portray Judge Dee as a "perfect" -- meaning highly conventional -- Chinese official in his series of mysteries also set in T'ang Dynasty China.)

It is a pity that Price did not write more such novels -- and that those he did write have not been kept in print.

The Jewish Pilgrimage - An Exploration of Reality, Mainly in Verse

The Jewish Pilgrimage by Geoffrey Hoffman is clearly written to inspire philosophical discussion. This book depicts the author's personal journey to find some form of understanding about man, our various versions of God and how this effects society and the use of its knowledge. He debates moral issues and provokes deep thinking in several areas that will never leave my mind as I travel along my own road.

Geoffrey questions the justness of creation itself and the gift of consciousness. Also he cleverly uses metaphors when he depicts various pieces of himself by using the universe, planets and astrological colors. Without a doubt this student of life, takes joy in nature. Throughout the book the author makes his awe in the vastness of the universe quite apparent.

My personal favorite piece was Beautiful Among The Buildings, which used powerful visual statements like:
"Night sprawls among the broken lives that line the broken street;
The lonely and unpitied men whose waste is our defeat.
Men stagger from dank cellars; men, imprisoned in their cars,
Go roaring into sightlessness - unmindful of the stars."

And the equally powerful anti-war piece, No Frontiers:
" The father carrying the limp body of his child,
The soldier staring at his amputated hand,
The little girl among the bloodied pieces of her parents -
What does it matter if they are of one side or another?
Dogma cannot grieve.
It is the pain of individuals that sears."

I also really appreciated Half Sight, which discussed the inability to witness the good and love in life when there is so much horror to distract us from it. Today Near Watford Market was a very moving piece for me in that it was so visual. It describes an event where the author witnesses a man speaking to the public about his lack of belief in religion. And "circling like wolves, the true-believers snarled, snapping at both his arguments and him." Yet nearby an elderly women fell, sprawling her shopping items on the ground around her. The non-believer ran over to her side and helped her on her way, "jostling to her assistance through unmoving ranks of true-believing ice". It is a beautiful story about seeing God where you least expect it.

In the later part of the book, the author moves away from poetry and gets in to verse debating who the Jewish people are, what they are perceived as being and the persecution of this group of people through the ages. His interesting look at the holocaust does not dwell on the sorrow or loss of the people - rather it centers on the people themselves.

By far, Jewish people are not the only race of people who have suffered at the hands of man and I think the author means to use the example as a tool to accelerate the intellectual growth of mankind.


ISBN#: 1-4137-7281-1
Author: Geoffrey Hoffman
Publisher: Publish America

~ Book Reviewer: Lillian Brummet - Co-author of the book Trash Talk, a guide for anyone concerned about his or her impact on the environment - Author of Towards Understanding, a collection of poetry. (http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)